Pittsburgh Steelers: All signs point to Le’Veon Bell staying

After mixed signals from both sides, it appears running back Le’Veon Bell is set to be in a Pittsburgh Steelers uniform for quite some time.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell isn’t shy to share his opinion. All one needs is to scour his social media pages and it won’t take long to figure out Le’Veon is very outspoken about his desires to be paid like he sees fit. Alongside his talents as one of the best players in the league, Bell is typically a fun character on and off the field. However when it comes to fresh ink on a new contract, he means business.

After turning down a deal that reportedly would have paid him $43 million in the first three years of his contract, Bell hesitantly signed his franchise tag before the 2017 regular season. There’s hope that 2018 doesn’t mirror the previous year, and it likely won’t, whether it’s on Bell’s terms or not.

The Michigan State product told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler he would consider sitting out the season should the Steelers want to again use the franchise tag on him.

"“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I would definitely consider it… Just get the numbers straight, exactly where we want them. I’m not going to settle for anything… I know what I do and what I bring to the table.”"

Whether Bell would actually stay true to his word has yet to be seen. However, Steelers owner Art Rooney II isn’t planning on dealing with any of those issues, as he has come out in support of a long-term deal for Bell alongside quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. With all eyes and microphones shifting to Bell this offseason as free agency looms, the bell cow running back has expressed his feelings for staying in Pittsburgh for the long haul.

Bell appears to in a more positive state of mind this time around when compared to last year, as Bell revealed at the Pro Bowl recent talks have made him feel “like a priority”. Bell and his camp have also recently came out and set  Feb. 20 as a hopeful deadline to reach a deal with the Steelers, the same day teams are able to start using their franchise tags and two weeks removed from the March 6 deadline to use the tag.

Bell has made his intentions clear, but what about the Steelers? Of course a team would love to keep the likes of Bell around for a long time, yet how serious is Pittsburgh about keeping him around long-term?

One of the main concerns for the Steelers heading into negotiations was the ability to create cap space to sign Bell, as the team managed a tight $2.9 million in cap space heading into the off-season. However, the team recently re-worked the contracts of David DeCastro and Stephon Tuitt to generate $13.26 million in cap space according to Field Yates of ESPN. Who’s this cap space for? You guessed it.

One of the key reasons Pittsburgh remained hesitant to give Bell his desired deal was his durability. Coming into 2017, Bell had only finished a full season just once due to injury or off the field issues. A full, productive season later, and the Steelers are willing to open their wallets just a little more than before.

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All signs are pointing to Le’Veon staying in black and gold for a long time, as both sides are positive about reaching an agreement soon. Bell proved himself worthy of an extension, the Steelers made moves to essentially finance his desires, and once the ink settles on his new extension, the Steelers will be one step closer to bringing another Super Bowl back to Pittsburgh.